BakoSaint

It is conventional wisdom that 'The No Call' was Roger Goodell and the NFL's way to find a short cut to boost the popularity and success of NFL Football in Los Angeles. Common sense says that an LA team reaching the Super Bowl would build fan interest and loyalty, fill seats, and turn Los Angeles into another New York, Dallas, or New England for the league. But is that common sense right? In life, sometimes taking a shortcut has hidden costs. The Los Angeles Rams stand at 3rd place in the NFC West, barely above .500, clearly not legitimate contenders after embarrassing losses. Their salary cap is a disaster, with record money tied up in a mediocre QB and a RB on one leg. Los Angeles fans are as apathetic as ever. The new stadium is behind schedule and over budget and PSLs are proving difficult to sell. Their offensive whiz kid coach averages about 7 points when facing a top defense like New England, SF , or Baltimore. It turns out that all shortcuts catch up to you, steroids seem like a shortcut to strength but they make you sick and weak, drugs seem like a shortcut to happiness but they make your life hell, and being handed things seems like a shortcut to earning them but actually makes you helpless when the handouts stop.

Going to a Superbowl they did not earn has cost the Rams in many ways. It cost them a devastating loss to New England in perhaps the worst offensive performance in Super Bowl History. That loss cost both Jared Goff and Sean McVay both their confidence and the full level of fan enthusiasm they had before the game. But in a sort of denial in the face of the obvious, Goff and McVay still got their egos stroked by Goffs record breaking contract that will doom the teams salary cap and every coach who vaguely resembled McVays offensive style getting a head coaching gig (making it easier for opposing defenses to prepare for that style by getting to face it more often). The appearance gave them both entitlement and doubt. It also created expectations for 2019 that they clearly cannot meat. And it did not just affect the Rams. The Rams making it to the Super Bowl relegated an equally talented and exciting Chargers team to second tier status, and the Chargers cannot get any fan interest or sell any PSLs.

Picture an alternate world where Nicole Robbie Coleman was called for pass interference and the Saints run down the clock and kick a short field goal to win. Maybe the Saints win the Superbowl, maybe the Patriots win. But the Rams are left with a great conclusion to their season, a hard fought close loss on the road, something to be humbled by but that they can build on, the heart wrenching battle that long term fan loyalty and franchise development are built on. In this scenario McVay and Goff go into 2019 with something to prove and more manageable expectations. They don't play expecting things to be handed to them. They know they lost on the road so every game counts and they need to assure home field advantage next year. Goff makes a bit less money and McVay gets a little less flattery by imitation but they have a little better cap situation and keep more assistants. Instead of waiting for handouts, they are hungry. A week 2 win over the Saints really means something, and shows they have taken a step forward. They are playing hungry, not waiting for handouts when the games get tough. And since the Rams and Chargers are both playoff caliber teams that didn't make the Superbowl, both still draw interest.

Don't get me wrong, "The No Call" was not good for the Saints. It was a disaster for the Saints. But it was not a gift for the Rams, it was a disaster for everyone. Cheating and dishonesty benefit nobody in the end, except those who are not involved. Perhaps the Patriots benefited getting to face a weak opponent waiting on handouts, but thats all. In 5 years, we may see the Chargers moved to St Louis or San Diego and the Rams moved to London or Mexico City. The NFL in Los Angeles may be a career historic failure for Roger Goodell and the NFL. And if we trace that failure to one moment, it may be the "The No Call." That was the moment Roger Goodell lost patience, couldn't wait, couldn't do it the right way, and had to take a short cut. That short cut was not evil genius, it was stupidity, shortsightedness. The Rams continue to stack the deck. They added Jaylen Ramsey to an all pro defense for just a few 1st round picks to win now. And they gave up 45 points on Monday night, because they kept waiting for something to be handed to them, and it could never be enough.